Why are the Post Offices that are located inside W H Smith branches so poorly run?

[capitalconnect]

Why are Post Offices that are located inside W H Smith branches so useless and incompetent and poorly run?

The standalone Post Offices are always fine and seem to be well run and i never have any problems. When the Post Office that i normally use was a standalone Post Office everything was fine. It was well staffed and there were no problems.

However the Post Offices that are inside W H Smith branches are a completely different story. They are a complete and utter mess. At the Post Office branch that i regularly use (which has been inside a W H Smith for about five or six years now) there are problems every time i go. Firstly there are six counters there but yet the maximum i have ever seen used is one. I go there about three or four times a week and go in the morning and afternoon and evening but yet every time i go there is just one person working and one counter open. It is actually common to have to wait up to an hour to get served. The worst was during Christmas 2019 where i waited 132 minutes (two hours and twelve minutes) to get served with the queue going all the way down the High Street as there was only one person working at the busiest time of the year.

What is the point of having six counters when they are only going to employ what person at a time. Almost every time i go there i end up waiting almost an hour (or sometimes even longer) which is unsurprising as there is only one person working. One person is simply not enough to deal with everyone. Then they are always having to go in the back to deal with things making us wait even longer. Can they really not afford more staff. The standalone Post Office that this W H Smith branch replaced used to often have up to six people working at one time.

The whole Post Office is also a mess with bags of rubbish lying around. The stand with all the forms is always empty as they never bother to fill it up. If you ask them for any form they will have to go to the back and it takes them ten or fifteen minutes to find the form you need while meanwhile the queue is getting longer and longer.

It is not just this one branch as every Post Office inside a W H Smith branch that i visit anywhere in the country seems to have the same issues. They are so badly run. It is a joke.

Has anyone else had this problem with Post Offices that are inside W H Smith branches?

 

[brad465]

I think the title answers itself: WHSmith have been very poorly run and managed for a long time (assuming the staff/management in the Post Offices there are connected in each store and the business model). I wouldn't be surprised if having Post Offices inside WHSmith stores is only of the tricks they've used to stay afloat as a business, along with apparently successful stores in Airport departure lounges (i.e. where people are almost obliged to have to enter them).

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Never experienced a major problem at a Post Office counter within a WH Smith branch myself, although like the OP, I've never seen all the counter positions open at the same time at any of the ones I've visited!

Service quality at sub Post Offices can be decidedly variable though.

Have you contacted the Post Office with your complaint?

If so, did you get fobbed off?

Get in touch | Help and support | Post Office

If you need help with any Post Office product or service our comprehensive support section is here to help you find the answers you need quickly and easily

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[birchesgreen]

Are they all poorly run? The one nearest me always seems fine.

 

[pdeaves]

My own anecdote, because why not.

My town centre Post Office is in a WH Smith. I had cause to use it many moons ago when there was a new set of stamps out that I wanted. I queued and queued and queued, watching everyone in front slowly shuffling forward to "counter number 1 please". Eventually it's my turn. "Counter number 2 please" and I step up. New stamps? No, don't know anything about them here, you should have gone to that counter over there. 1. How on earth was I supposed to know that? and 2. How do I get to pick which counter I go to?

I went to an independent PO out of town in the end.

 

[C J Snarzell]

I live near Wigan and those of you from the area will know that the general post office on Wallgate was closed a few years ago.

The Post Office then set up camp inside the branch of WHSmith on Standishgate. Then to put the icing on the cake, WHS are closing this store in December (they have already commenced their closing down sale)!!!!

The original town centre Post Office was a real professional set up - multiple service tills with all the mod cons that you would associate with a traditional PO. There was a photo booth in there, along with all the relevant stock associated with the world of mail.

The move into WHSmiths has been a disaster waiting to happen. The WHS store in Wigan is just shoddy and resembles a car boot sale these days. Formerly John Menzies, prior to that it was Woolworths, it was a decent store for many years - they even had a dedicated store detective in there at one time. Sadly, it is now in a pityful state. Maybe it is a saving grace it is going, but such a shame for the handful of staff in there that have been keeping a sinking ship afloat.

I have only had the pleasure of using the PO twice whilst they have been inside WHS and I have been less than impressed. On one occasion, the PO desk was being covered by a WHS staff member who was also trying to re-label and restock the book charts elsewhere in the store (multi-tasking on minimum staffing levels). I last went in the WHS store last week on a weekday afternoon and the PO wasn't even open!

I can only speak from my own experience of where I live, but WHSmith seem to be streamlining their business and closing quite a few of their stores, but where will that the Post Office and those customers who still need to pay them a visit?

CJ

 

[py_megapixel]

The staff in my local post office (not in a Smiths) are often generally rude and not particularly good at their job. They also don't tend to stick to their opening hours. It has been like this for a long time. A year or two ago that final straw was when I was trying to send a parcel and the person behind the counter claimed that the pre-paid label - which I'd paid for online the day before - wasn't valid and I would need to pay for postage again.

I declined to do this and instead got on my bike and took it to the post office in another nearby town, where they accepted it without issue. I've heard stories about our local PO doing this kind of thing to other people as well, so I now make a point of never using them and always going to the other one.

 

[AlterEgo]

The one in Woolwich is pretty good and has a lovely manager who often queue-busts and shows customers how to use self service machines. Can’t complain.

 

[Ianno87]

The staff in my local post office (not in a Smiths) are often generally rude and not particularly good at their job. They also don't tend to stick to their opening hours. It has been like this for a long time. A year or two ago that final straw was when I was trying to send a parcel and the person behind the counter claimed that the pre-paid label - which I'd paid for online the day before - wasn't valid and I would need to pay for postage again.

I declined to do this and instead got on my bike and took it to the post office in another nearby town, where they accepted it without issue. I've heard stories about our local PO doing this kind of thing to other people as well, so I now make a point of never using them and always going to the other one.

I went into the big Post Office near London Bridge, straight up to a completely empty counter where 3 assistants were waiting, unoccupied.

Got told off as I was apparently supposed to use the self-service machines...

 

[westv]

I can't remember the last time I used a post office but I do remember it was years ago.

 

[Darandio]

I went into the big Post Office near London Bridge, straight up to a completely empty counter where 3 assistants were waiting, unoccupied.

Got told off as I was apparently supposed to use the self-service machines...

I've had the same in Middlesbrough. Nobody else in the Post Office area of the branch and two people serving, "we're not supposed to handle envelopes, they go self service".

 

[Kite159]

I've had the same in Middlesbrough. Nobody else in the Post Office area of the branch and two people serving, "we're not supposed to handle envelopes, they go self service".

The staff were far too busy wanting to chat to each other about the latest TV programs than to serve a pesky customer with a mere envelope which they won't make much money from

 

[Darandio]

The staff were far too busy wanting to chat to each other about the latest TV programs than to serve a pesky customer with a mere envelope which they won't make much money from

Jiffy envelope being sent signed for at £2.93! The self service is just a complete faff, far easier if they just do their job.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Jiffy envelope being sent signed for at £2.93!

2nd class, large letter, signed for and up to 250g.

Still well expensive whether you use a Post Office branch inside WH Smith, or not.

 

[alexjames10]

I think the underlying problem is that the current management of Post Office Counters Ltd are tasked with the job of reducing their annual subsidy from HM Treasury. The preferred methodology is to sell off off Post Office sites and, after reporting substantial profits on sale, they relocate the businesses in crap locations. I take the view that most on this site agree that WHS is a lousy retailer. Plenty of Post Offices have found their way there and many others have been reborn in similarly poor locations. Perhaps such garbage retailers offer the best rent terms to POCL. Presumably they do so because they are keen to attract additional footfall to their piss poor retail locations.

The Treasury position is that the subsidy must be reduced. POCL’s business is inherently loss making. As of a few years ago, the annual Treasury subsidy was £700M pa. The plan is to reduce that to nil. Whether that is a good idea or not is perhaps beyond the scope of this thread.

 

[XAM2175]

Jiffy envelope being sent signed for at £2.93! The self service is just a complete faff, far easier if they just do their job.

2nd class, large letter, signed for and up to 250g. Still well expensive whether you use a Post Office branch inside WH Smith, or not.

Noting that that money ultimately goes to Royal Mail. Post Office keep only a small fraction.

 

[DelayRepay]

The problem in my experience is they've cut the staff to the bone. Really you need more than one person otherwise you'll get a queue when someone's doing something like a passport application. I guess this is because a lot of their core business has gone (fewer people sending letters or paying utility bills over the counter, fewer people collecting benefits, etc). So they cut their cloth to fit.

I wonder how long it will be before WHS move the Post Offices to their general tills, like a lot of village shops have done now.

(As an aside, I am surprised that most WHS locations have survived at all. They're generally run down, over priced and a lot of their stock is quite odd. Yet despite all the high street retailers we've lost over the last decade, they seem to keep going).

 

[Whistler40145]

Our main Post Office was located in W H Smith until it closed down, now the Post Office is located within Blackpool Council offices in the new Bickerstaffe Square area nearby to Blackpool North Railway Station.

 

[tomuk]

I tend to use two Sub Post Offices not the 'main' WHSmith one in the town centre. The one I use the most is run by a very friendly post mistress and the service is very good. The only issue is it is located in a medieval/tudor house and is absolutely tiny. So small that if I'm dropping of a ParcelForce large parcel I feel bad blocking the PO up with it.

So I use another PO for larger items. This PO is in a CoOp, run by them, but in a separate area. The staff are absolutely miserable and accept my prepaid parcels with disgust. They also have a weird stationery display which you have to pay for by cash or a debit card only. I watched incredulously one day while the assistant basically argued with a customer who wanted to pay with a credit card that she was happy to accept payment for the postage by CC but not the for jiffy bag taken from the stationery display. Local Postage for Local People.

 

[dk1]

So many experienced staff left when they where forced to go over to WHSmith contracts. No idea how that’s allowed to happen. It’s soul destroying in our main branch now.

 

[James H]

The general standard of presentation of WHSmith stores is shocking.

You look at the state of the shops and wonder how the top brass can possibly consider the environment to be remotely acceptable.

 

[dk1]

The general standard of presentation of WHSmith stores is shocking.

You look at the state of the shops and wonder how the top brass can possibly consider the environment to be remotely acceptable.

So true. I’m not sure if all the clutter & crap you are forced to walk through to get to the PO is supposed to entice you to buy? All it does for me is gives me the overpowering urge to get the hell out of there.

 

[Ianno87]

The general standard of presentation of WHSmith stores is shocking.

You look at the state of the shops and wonder how the top brass can possibly consider the environment to be remotely acceptable.

Baffled how they're still in business when other places have gone to the wall. Genuinely a terrible shopping experience. Is it something simple like owning (rather than renting) their shops so running costs are relatively low?

 

[dk1]

Baffled how they're still in business when other places have gone to the wall. Genuinely a terrible shopping experience. Is it something simple like owning (rather than renting) their shops so running costs are relatively low?

Their railway station & airport arm was doing very well until the pandemic. Picking up now but a long way to go particularly at the latter.

 

[yorksrob]

Jiffy envelope being sent signed for at £2.93! The self service is just a complete faff, far easier if they just do their job.

That's the twentyfirst century for you I'm afraid.

Why have a member of staff do their job when you can get a customer to faff around on some dreadful machine instead. And I always end up having to call over the one hassled looking employee because the machines are never programmed to operate intuitively.

My bank branch looks like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise these days.

 

[ainsworth74]

Jiffy envelope being sent signed for at £2.93! The self service is just a complete faff, far easier if they just do their job.

As far as I can tell if all you want to do is send a letter (so basically buy a stamp) they're quite good. But as soon as you want anything interesting (like signed for) then the machines are incapable of working and you always end up needing staff intervention. Sometimes at Middlesbrough they have a floor walker who will pick people out of the queue and get them onto the machines but then they're there to help when you inevitably get stuck. So far I've managed to resit the temptation to ask "why don't you just man an extra counter instead?"...

 

[Darandio]

Noting that that money ultimately goes to Royal Mail. Post Office keep only a small fraction.

No excuse for sitting around doing nothing, it's crap service. Where the money goes after sending something isn't my problem.

That's the twentyfirst century for you I'm afraid.

Why have a member of staff do their job when you can get a customer to faff around on some dreadful machine instead. And I always end up having to call over the one hassled looking employee because the machines are never programmed to operate intuitively.

My bank branch looks like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise these days.

As far as I can tell if all you want to do is send a letter (so basically buy a stamp) they're quite good. But as soon as you want anything interesting (like signed for) then the machines are incapable of working and you always end up needing staff intervention. Sometimes at Middlesbrough they have a floor walker who will pick people out of the queue and get them onto the machines but then they're there to help when you inevitably get stuck. So far I've managed to resit the temptation to ask "why don't you just man an extra counter instead?"...

Sending something signed for with self service seems to me like a recipe for disaster given how it's all laid out. First you have the touch screen to enter the postcode which isn't great and is inviting a mistake. Then you have a load of rolls of stickers just sat there, good luck picking the correct one. Finally once you are done you are surrounded by a bunch of postboxes but to the uninitiated it's not immediately apparent what goes in where.

Yet you have people sat behind the counter most likely having a giggle between themselves at the gormless punter banging a postcode into a screen and they could have done it right there in 30 seconds with their eyes closed.

For all the failings of the Redcar branch often with one person behind the counter and the queues that follow (don't get me started on when someone needs a photo doing for their driving licence!!) at least they haven't cottoned on to having self service yet.

 

[XAM2175]

No excuse for sitting around doing nothing, it's crap service. Where the money goes after sending something isn't my problem.

I said nothing of the sort. It's simply the reason that there's no direct connection between the price you pay for postage and the service that the Post Office provide.

 

[Ianno87]

No excuse for sitting around doing nothing, it's crap service. Where the money goes after sending something isn't my problem.





Sending something signed for with self service seems to me like a recipe for disaster given how it's all laid out. First you have the touch screen to enter the postcode which isn't great and is inviting a mistake. Then you have a load of rolls of stickers just sat there, good luck picking the correct one. Finally once you are done you are surrounded by a bunch of postboxes but to the uninitiated it's not immediately apparent what goes in where.

Yet you have people sat behind the counter most likely having a giggle between themselves at the gormless punter banging a postcode into a screen and they could have done it right there in 30 seconds with their eyes closed.

For all the failings of the Redcar branch often with one person behind the counter and the queues that follow (don't get me started on when someone needs a photo doing for their driving licence!!) at least they haven't cottoned on to having self service yet.

In my example, that's why I basically went up to the counter; why faff around on the machine and risk getting it wrong when 3 people are sat there unoccupied who could do it in a fraction of the time.

If there had been a queue for the counter but empty machines, I probably would have chosen the machines.

 

[Darandio]

I said nothing of the sort. It's simply the reason that there's no direct connection between the price you pay for postage and the service that the Post Office provide.

But it does suggest that Post Office staff intend on putting in minimal effort simply because their employer only gets a fraction of the money I hand over to them. Given they sold off their phone and broadband arm it seems there isn't much they do themselves these days that someone won't be taking a majority cut from.

They advertise all of these things as services they provide. If staff cannot be arsed to serve you because the Post Office is only receiving pennies for one of these services then that's none of my concern.